Question

What is an oxymoron?

Answer 1

Hint: There are certain kinds of words that we use in English literature to make the context more dramatic and make its description more impactful. An oxymoron is a rhetorical device that can be used to illustrate a point or disclose a paradox.

Complete answer:
Oxymoron is a figure of speech. So let us first understand what the figure of speech is. The figure of speech refers to words and phrases that imply a different meaning from the literal meaning of those words and phrases. For e.g. if we say ‘dark clouds covered the sky’ it would mean ‘something gloomy/bad occurred’ and not that ‘ clouds carrying rain covered the sky’. There are various types of figures of speech which are simile, metaphor, personification, antithesis, oxymoron etc.

Oxymoron is a figure of speech where two contrary words are written together such that they convey a contradictory meaning. It is used intentionally to increase the emphasis on a particular subject and draw readers attention.

Let us understand with the help of a few examples-
‘Free market’
Free means ‘ not under the control of others’ whereas market means “a place where buyers interact with each other to exchange goods and services for money’’. Market always has controlled conditions such as controlled price, who is allowed to sell in the market, who is not etc. These regulatory conditions are set by the government and private players. Therefore the market is controlled and not ‘free’ and consequently ‘Free market’ is an oxymoron.

Other examples can be
- Sweet sorrow
- Small crowd
- Visible darkness

Note: Antitheses is also a figure of speech that shows two contrasting ideas parallelly however they are different from oxymoron because in oxymoron we use two contrasting words whereas in antithesis we use two contrasting ideas/phrases.